Jaguars head coach Liam Coen prepared for Week 1 unknowns vs. Browns

There’s a general fear of the unknown when it comes to Week 1 of the NFL season.

As the Jacksonville Jaguars prepare for the Cleveland Browns, they’ll do so without much tape on their opponent. Cleveland is led by new head coach Todd Monken, who also controls the team’s offense, while their defense is led by former Atlanta Falcons defensive pass game coordinator Mike Rutenberg.

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Instead of playing a guessing game, though, Jacksonville will have one goal in mind: doing what they do best.

“I have no idea what [Rutenberg’s] gonna play defensively. Like, I really don’t have a clue. You have an idea of some of the things that maybe they’ve done before in the past. You go back and look, but, you know, they have a little bit of — I don’t wanna say an upper hand — but they have our tape from last season. I don’t have tape from last season of his defense, right?” Coen articulated on ahead of Week 1.

O’HALLORAN: Why Jaguars hang on every word Liam Coen says in weekly team meetings

The Jaguars have an idea of what the Browns like to do on either side of the ball, but the unique challenges of Week 1 are largely due to the unknown — for both teams, inside and out.

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Jacksonville hopes to get off to a fast start this season, something Coen says would be good for momentum. Still, he doesn’t want to live and die based on a Week 1 result.

“I think you always want to start off fast, right? You want to start fast, you want to win for momentum purposes, for whatever the next steps are. But there are so many teams that obviously have poor starts and end up having really good years,” Coen explained.

“I mean, we got a game tonight, so it’s wild to say that we’re here. It’s here. It’s now. We want to try to stay in the moment, but yeah, it’s important to have a fast start and to set the tone.”

After a 13-4 rookie season as the team’s head coach, Coen has settled into his own. He explained ahead of Week 1 exactly why he doesn’t have to think as much as he might’ve in the past.

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“I think you’re settled a little bit more in terms of the operation, the weekly schedule, the rhythm, the routine, the game management aspect of it and trusting and knowing the guys that you’ve hired, you believe in, that you trust that are going to be on the same page about maybe some of the ways that we want to be in terms of aggressiveness, not aggressiveness, punt, no punt, field goal, all that stuff,” Coen explained.

“And to continue to be able to adjust and adapt to how the game’s going. But I do think that you have a routine in place that we feel has worked and that’s where I feel a little bit more settled, I would say, in terms of just trusting our process that, ‘okay, we do feel like it works.’ Our process works.”

The Browns selected tight end Harold Fannin Jr. witin the third round of the 2025 NFL Draft. He finished his rookie season with 72 catches for 731 yards and six touchdowns. Coen thought the second-year TE was underrated last season.

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“I’m a huge fan of his. I loved him coming out of Bowling Green… I watched him block, I think it was [Green Bay Packers outside linebacker] Micah Parsons on a duo and he was in line and he held his own and had a statement there and it was a good run,” Coen said of Fannin.

“Then, you see him flexed out running wheel routes and option routes and then he goes all the way out to be the single receiver and is running daggers and like 20-yard ins. So, I think it’s a good fit for [Monken] and what he likes to do.”

Coen was unclear on whether right tackle Cole Van Lanen or running back LeQuint Allen would suit up against the Browns on Sunday. Van Lanen continues working his way back from a late-season knee injury, while Allen got banged up during training camp.

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Both players are likelky game-time decisions against the Browns, Coen indicated.

“We’ll kind of take it all the way up [until] game time with that one. You want to get him in. You want to be able to get him some work, get him some reps, get him feeling confident in a game-like setting, missing the joint [practices] and all those kind of [opportunities] that our other guys obviously had throughout the training camp,” said of the team’s starting right tackle.

“But I’ve really liked his mindset. I’ve liked the way he’s attacked, putting himself in maybe precarious positions and owning it.”

Demetrius Harvey is the Jacksonville Jaguars reporter for the Florida Times-Union. You can follow him on X (formerly Twitter)at @Demetrius82 or on Bluesky at Demetrius.

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This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jaguars head coach Liam Coen prepared for Week 1 unknowns vs. Browns